South Bend Community School Corporation to receive 2025 Strategic Data Excellence Award from Harvard’s Strategic Data Project

BOSTON, May 8, 2025—The Strategic Data Project (SDP) at the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University announced South Bend Community School Corporation (SBCSC) as the winner of the 2025 Strategic Data Excellence Award. The award, presented at SDP’s annual spring convening in Boston, recognizes SBCSC’s transformative work on data dashboards that ensure compliance with the special education protections of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).  

 The award was created in 2021 to recognize that while strong data work is critical to successful strategy, innovation, and improvement, it is too often taken for granted and uncelebrated.   

The award sought submissions from practitioner-led projects within domestic public K-12 or postsecondary systems that meet criteria including demonstrated use of high-quality data to address a pressing, clear challenge in education; measurable, quality evidence of success and impact; and the ability to inspire others. The project also needed to align with the 2025 SDP Convening theme, “Now What?,” which grapples with the major disruptions and opportunities of our time, encouraging dialogue about how to move from insight to action and asking: how can we translate technological advances in education into sustainable practices? How can we ensure ethical use of data while pushing the boundaries of innovation? 

South Bend’s Special Education Compliance Dashboards exemplify this commitment to move from insight to action, offering a compelling and replicable model for education agencies seeking to leverage data for systemic improvement. 

“This project is more than a tool,” said Joel Boehner, Assistant Director of Exceptional Learners at SBCSC. “It’s a roadmap for how education systems can build transparency, accountability, and collaboration into their core operations.” 

The project was designed to tackle a widespread issue: the fragmented and manual processes that hinder timely compliance with IDEA requirements, resulting in inequitable service delivery for students with disabilities. By integrating disparate data systems into a centralized, user-friendly platform, the dashboards reduced administrative burdens for educators and administrators, leading to a 92% improvement in annual IEP compliance over three years. 

Designed to serve both technical and non-technical audiences, the dashboards provide clear, actionable insights for educators, administrators, and families.

“This isn’t just about compliance. This is about trust. About making the right decisions for students. About building something better,” said Boehner.

“Work like this is pivotal,” added Tonia Brewer, who was Executive Director of Exceptional Learners at SBCSC at the time of the project's rollout. “We have to be able to say, this is what’s happening, this is what’s not happening, and be able to stand on that and make decisions in the moment.”

“Eliminating the administrative burdens on educators is an important issue,” said Strategic Data Project Senior Director Miriam Greenberg. “In addition to supporting a population that makes up more than ten percent of students, allowing educators to spend more time with students improves outcomes across the board. This work is a gamechanger in a time when districts are having difficulties retaining high-quality teachers.” 

As the award recipient, South Bend will nominate a team member to join the next cohort of the SDP Data Fellowship to deepen the project’s technical infrastructure, refine data models, and develop best practices for implementation and scalability. 

Learn more or watch the the video at sdp.cepr.harvard.edu/award.

Contact: Sam Stockwell, CEPR Director of Communications, samuel_stockwell@gse.harvard.edu 

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About the Strategic Data Project   
Harvard's Strategic Data Project (SDP) works with education agencies to find and train data leaders to uncover trends, measure solutions, and effectively communicate evidence to stakeholders. SDP’s network of system leaders, fellows, and faculty come together to share how to best use data to make a difference in the lives of students. SDP Fellows are driving data-informed change in over 215 school systems and organizations. Learn more at sdp.harvard.edu.   

About the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University   
The Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, seeks to transform education through quality research and evidence. CEPR and its partners believe all students will learn and thrive when education leaders make decisions using facts and findings, rather than untested assumptions. Learn more at cepr.harvard.edu.